KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- As members of the house and senate work to make a compromise on the tax reform bill, some are questioning if graduate students' tuition waivers should remain tax exempt.
With the House of Representatives and the Senate both passing their own version of a tax reform bill, it is now up to a conference committee to combine the two before going to President Trump.
In the House version of the bill, graduate students' tuition waivers are no longer tax exempt.
“It is pretty important. It comes down to, I believe, it's $1,600 more a year we end up paying if we were not tax exempt,” said Brad Lamb, a graduate student at the KU Medical Center.
The KU Medical Center is one of the largest graduate schools in the Kansas City area.
Recently, Kansas Republican Congressman Kevin Yoder spoke up for graduate students with a handful of his colleagues in the house by sending a letter to the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. The letter said graduate students should remain tax exempt.
“The purpose of our tax reform bill is to create opportunities for all Americans to succeed by cutting taxes on middle class families and working families, and that shouldn't be done at the expense of graduate students,” said Yoder.
Yoder did vote for the overall House version of the tax bill, but he says taking the tax exempt status away from graduate students will do more harm than good.
“I worry that the provision in the House bill would run counter to that, so we are pressuring the conference committee to accept the Senate provision, which keeps intact that tuition waiver which encourages young learners to go into graduate studies and research,” said Yoder.
Lamb just finished his first semester at KU Medical Center.
“It is a big deal because our stipend doesn't cover a lot. It basically takes out tuition and then enough to live off of... You usually get a couple hundred dollars a month for spending money. That's it," said Lamb. "So with this extra $1,600 a year, that takes a pretty good chunk out of what your extra money would be,” said Lamb.
The Republican tax plan has been criticized from the Democratic side of Congress, who don't think the plan would end up helping middle class families.
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